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Ot·ta·wa¹

(ŏtə-wə, -wä′, -wô′)

n. pl. Ottawa or Ot·ta·was

1. A member of a Native American people formerly inhabiting the northern shore of Lake Huron, with later settlements throughout the upper Great Lakes region. Present-day Ottawa populations are located mainly in southern Ontario, northern Michigan, and Oklahoma.

2. The dialect of Ojibwa spoken by the Ottawa.

[Ojibwa odaawaa.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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